Be My Interviewer

A product of JobSiteUK, Be My Interviewer offers a series of questions posed by "celebrity" specialists from the UK. There are a variety of question themes, such as Killer or Ambition questions, to select from and you can mix and match from the script by selecting from a menu on the lower right side of the page. You can also pick the type of interviewer who you would like to face--I've had interviews in libraries with interviewers like Keith, Kirsty and Jacqueline, and one with a person like Ruth, who seems a lot like her last name--but it would be a good idea to try some different genders and pitches to get used to presentation and tone.

I think this is a useful interview experiment, especially if you can't find someone to help you with a mock interview. Caveat: I don't think some of the questions were well-thought out, or, to get the most from the experience you also have to view the rationale, the Answer. For example: Duncan Bannatyne poses a question about how soon you could accept the job and one of his options is, do you need to speak with your partner? I think this is a despicable ploy to find out about your marital status, and the interviewer asks with such brusque, Trumpian authority that I would feel pressured to answer. I accept the reasoning for the question, provided in the Answer feature, but still, partner or not, NYOB.

I found this on BORN, which I think is a useful site for online recruitment trends in the UK.

Play nicely in the Field of the Blog

Please post comments. I'm not scared and I think the Internet is about conversing and not dictating. I'm also just not that smart everyday and I also thinking talking to myself is a sign...sign of the cat maybe, but a sign nonetheless.

If you want to write a blog post, you have to send me the post; just email it to bookish37@gmail.com. Comments get lost or they can't be labeled properly so they can be found again. And why bother to write if you don't want to be found?

But play nicely in the Field of the Blog: I don't let you post anonymously. You have to have a handle, at least, even if you don't want to use your full name. And it may only take a little old-school Nancy Drew, with a dash of Veronica Mars, to figure out who you are. (And it is only going to get easier with a little Data Portability).

Librarian: Best Career

Librarian made one of 31 Best Careers from US News and World Report Magazine. The criteria for selection was interesting: not physically demanding, professional, couldn't be off-shored and technological skills are valuable. I did like how librarian was identified as a "career for a changing landscape" though the blurb on librarians is more of a summary with an emphasis on our ability to shout "happify" in a room with a straight face.

My feedback is "you suck!"

Tell me about a time when you worked with a colleague who usually gave negative feedback or no feedback for your performance.

Additionally, the interviewer may ask about an overly critical supervisor, or a person who usually corrected you in public. The interviewer wants to know how you deal, not only with stressful co-workers, but also with clients or students who don't have time to fill out evaluation forms or who may tell you flat-out that they hate the job you do and don't want to spend their tax dollars on you doing it (ask a person who's had a book challenge and get back to me, if you don't think people are that rude).

Your answer should show your resiliency by rebounding from negative feedback, how you deal with complaints--diplomatically--and that you can keep a battery-pack full of good comments to get you through the lean times. This is also a BDI question, so you need to come up with an example from the first two--negative feedback or complaint from a customer--to answer the question properly.

Looking for workers Web 3.0 style

WSJ Careers released an article on recruiting Web 3.0 style. Libraries may be using these methods to recruit librarians--though we seem to be happy with the e-mailed resume, how 2001 of us!--and some of these tools, like the video interview are just an updated version of the telephone interview, a staple in libraries since the eighties. At least, for me, 1/2 of my interviews included a telephone screening interview.

The article did make me think of something (which sprang from my love/hate relationship with my own web camera): but can a technological interview gone right give you a "tech halo"? You might have heard of the halo effect. Halo effect in action: you look like the person who was in the position, who was stellar, and because you evoke fond, apple-pie-in-the-oven feelings, the interviewer just decides to hire you, regardless of how well you shake your schtick. Conversely, you can also have a "horns effect", where the interviewer prefers meringue to your apple. But what happens if you have mighty tech mojo but the next candidate has felt the evil eye of Logitech? The person suffering under the evil eye may be a better candidate than you but because the their camera wobbles and fades, you get the job and they get "better luck next time".

Could the quality of transmission be unfairly influencing our interviews?

Thanks for all the fish

At the end of your final term, you not only have to fly away and leave the nest of library school, you're also probably pushed right out of the tree by the nice avians that taught you how to fly: the library that gave you your library student job. Now that you're no longer a student...well, you're fired. Thanks for all the fish.

You know that this is going to happen and there are three things you should do:

1. Ask for a formal, final evaluation. This evaluation talks about your growth as a professional, the tasks you completed and any additional projects that you accepted. It can also talk about valued personality traits--kindness, listening ability or work ethic--that your new employer might like to know that you have.
   
   You're leaving when you have lots to do--finishing projects, finding another job--and your employer is probably getting reading for a summer season which involves new students. It is easy to miss this last step, but you should ask for a formal evaluation and try to get it done now, before you get too busy. You can use this evaluation in interviews and it might work in a pinch if your references are away.
2. Ask for references, verbal and written. Unless they're totally out to lunch, they know you need a new job, but you have to tell them that you're looking and to be prepared for phone calls. You should also ask for a written letter in case they take holidays when you're interviewing or to put into your portfolio. Though it's pretty rare, you should also be prepared for them to refuse to give you a reference.
3. Thank them for having you. No one makes an employer hire a student (well, you're cheaper than a full-fledged professional, great incentive) but you're also a big hassle, though you're tidy enough. Say thank you.

Only smart people in library land

Thank god we only work with smart people in library land: other library people and the people who love libraries, or this could happen to us.

Schedule

I was sick yesterday, so no posting for me. I thought I would take this opportunity to talk a bit about scheduling posts: I'm going to try to put up a post every week day, unless I'm sick or on conference. I'm going to take a posting break on weekends so I can write posts that aren't time sensitive so I'll look brilliant and consistent during the week. Scheduled posting means I don't wear this expression, my /Alfred, fetch me an Advil face:

Since this is also an I'm not a mind reader face, it would also be really helpful if people could suggest some topics for me, or if they could tell me something they're interested in and just write about it: advice, rant, strategy, whatever. You can email it to me and I will post it to the blog with your name, or handle if you prefer, attached to the post. I know that many of you have experience looking for work--have done it before, will do it again--so you can be a page sage for the blog.

Financial Assistance for Library and Information Studies

The ALA has made a pdf of the scholarships and awards for Library and Information Studies education. There are some Canadian resources in the text as well and you can also use additional sources such as ALIS Scholarships and Bursaries and the SchoolFinder.com Finance Database.

My 2%

Does it really make a difference to negotiate your starting salary? Yes, it can since your raises can be calculated by the percentage of salary that you are currently making. Let's look at the example below where Candidate A accepted the minimum and Candidate B negotiated two steps higher for her initial salary.


(These numbers are from the Librarian Salary Scale at the University of Alberta)

You're looking at this table and thinking: really, there is only $1,849 between the two salaries. And I thought I was bad at math. You need to look at the difference over time: over five years, Candidate B makes $8,896 more than Candidate A. It also takes Candidate A two years to surpass Candidate B's initial salary.

Now, there are some assumptions built into this table that you need to know about that also affect the numbers on this table. I did that for a few reasons:

• sometimes steps are for good behaviour, pay tied to performance, and I am positing that there is no difference between the two except initial negotiation. Anyway, Candidate B starts at 2 steps higher than Candidate A, so Candidate B is still ahead and making 2% on a larger gross pay.
  
• the math was easy, and I rounded. No decimals before coffee.
  

I think I made my point: you don't lose anything, but you can gain a lot by just asking.

If you were a dog, what kind of dog would you be?

WSJ Online has a brief article on some of the silly questions that get asked at interviews: Is that your natural hair colour? Give me a second and I'll check...If you were a dog, what kind of dog would you be? Library cats are far more traditional, but a terrier in the closed stacks...

Some questions are just gaffes, small talk gone hopelessly wrong, but other questions, like the Melrose Place catty natural hair colour question which could be fishing for your age, can become truly inappropriate. Most often the interviewer is as nervous as you are because they have an important job as well: they need to hire someone. And it better be the best person.

Forgive a gaffe and dodge the digs. This information sheet will help you spot improprieties.

Advice for electronic resume submissions

Career Hub has an succinct and common sense post today on keywords in electronic resumes. Since almost all resumes, which includes every resume you send in as an email attachment, are electronic, it is a good idea to think about your keywords.

Searching for a resume in a resume bank is just like searching in a search engine for a particular results. The searcher creates a search string and the person who has most of the Power Ball numbers gets pulled first and offered an interview slot. Therefore, the more numbers you match on the greater chance you have on getting pulled from the data bank. And you know the numbers they are looking for: read through the posting and, if you have a skill or experience with some item, add it to the text of your resume or cover letter. Required are most important, but the desired/preferred traits will also get you in.

• Echo what the post asks for. If it is email, or a particular library talent, such as collection development or a type of software, such as Sirsi, do your best to include these keywords somewhere in your text.
• Name your degree in full and then use the abbreviation. This is also true of affiliations with professional associations (Student member, American Library Association (ALA) and New Members Round Table (NMRT))
• Be specific. Don't just put Office, what parts of Microsoft Office are you familiar with? Are you fluent or functional in Spanish, and what does that mean?

Follow any other instructions, such as submit references when applying, to the letter.